3. a. The Commissioner of Education shall recommend to the State Treasurer whether an advance State aid payment should be made to a school district for which a State monitor has been appointed. The commissioner’s recommendation shall be based on whether the payment is necessary to ensure the provision of a thorough and efficient education. An advance State aid payment shall be recorded by the school district as revenue for budget purposes in the school year in which the advance State aid payment is provided.

b. The advance State aid payment shall be repaid by the school district through automatic reductions in the State aid provided to the school district in subsequent years. The term of the repayment shall not exceed 10 years, but may be for a shorter term as determined by the State Treasurer. At any time during the term of the repayment the State Treasurer, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education, may determine to impose interest on the unpaid balance ; except that interest shall not be imposed in the case of a school district for which a State monitor is appointed within 90 days of the effective date of this act. The commissioner shall transfer the amount of the reduction in State aid to the account established pursuant to section 5 of this act.

c. In any year in which the school district’s undesignated general fund balance is greater than 1.5% of general fund expenditures, the amount which exceeds 1.5% shall be an additional amount applied to the following year’s repayment of the advance State aid payment and the school district’s State aid shall be reduced by this additional amount in that following year.

L.2006,c.15,s.3.